Worcester City Council stalls on changing form of government

Tuesday

Jul 22, 2014 at 11:16 PM

By Nick Kotsopoulos TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — Several city councilors say they would welcome having community discussions about possibly changing the city's form of government, but they stopped short Tuesday night of setting up a process to facilitate that.

Instead, the groundwork for public hearings is not expected to be laid until the council's next meeting on Aug. 19 at the earliest.

Some councilors indicated they may file orders for that meeting to have public hearings on the city's form of government this fall, after a new city manager is hired.

"Democracy is at work here; it's refreshing to see a whole host of activists willing to participate in these discussions," said District 2 Councilor Philip P. Palmieri.

Meanwhile, Councilor-at-Large Konstantina B. Lukes decried the latest movement to change the city's council-manager form of government to one in which an elected mayor would serve as chief executive. She questioned the timing of raising the issue while the City Council is looking for a new city manager.

Mrs. Lukes even went so far to say that such talk is "an attempt to sabotage the city manager selection process" because it might give pause to candidates who have applied for the job.

She also argued that discussion about changing the form government was a violation of the Open Meeting Law because there wasn't an agenda item specifically about the issue.

Instead, the discussion was allowed to take place when the council took up an item from Mayor Joseph M. Petty on an update on the city manager search process.

"There is nothing on the agenda talking about charter change," Mrs. Lukes said. "It's quite a jump to go from an update on the city manager search to changing the city's form of government. That is far removed from the selection process and I believe it is a violation (of the Open Meeting Law) to go any further."

But Mr. Petty and several other councilors strongly disagreed. They said the city's form of government goes hand in hand with the city manager search process.

They also argued that there was no violation of the Open Meeting Law because the City Council was not taking any votes related to the form of government; it was only referring to its Municipal Operations Committee the mayor's report on the city manager search.

"She's bastardizing the Open Meeting Law," said Councilor-at-Large Frederick C. Rushton. "Nothing has been put before the council to vote on. I invite (Mrs. Lukes) to file a complaint with the attorney general; it will end up in the wastebasket in five seconds."

Mr. Petty also defended his handling of the matter, saying it is important that the council address the issue. He said if councilors want to set up public hearings on changing the city's form of government, they should file orders that can appear on the next council agenda.

Several councilors also disputed the notion that talk about changing the form of government will hamper the city manager search. They said they have broached that question with the consultant assisting the council in the search and were told it should have no impact.

Meanwhile, Councilor-at-Large Morris A. Bergman said he believes there is nothing wrong with having discussions.